Bill > SB178

This bill modifies the Chesapeake and Atlantic Coastal Bays Critical Area Protection Program by extending the comprehensive review period for local critical area programs from six to ten years, and it updates the standards for locating new intensely developed or limited development areas, requiring them to be contiguous and adjoining to existing developed areas, minimize impacts to habitat protection areas, optimize water quality benefits, and consider climate change vulnerability, with specific provisions for counties unable to meet these requirements. The bill also clarifies the process for program refinements and amendments, including extending the timeframe for the Commission to act on an overridden chair's determination from 90 to 130 days, and it revises the qualifications for professionals who can prepare, oversee, and approve tree replanting plans in critical areas, allowing for any qualified professional approved by the Department, not just licensed foresters or landscape architects, and directs that damages for illegal tree cutting be paid to the local jurisdiction instead of the Department.

Education

Education, Energy, and the Environment (Senate)

https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Legislation/Details/SB0178?ys=2026RS